Unlocking Destiny
by joryuukage
Summary: Hikaru thought his life couldn't get any weirder. Then, he finds out he has to save the universe with Touya, Waya & several others from an evil after some sort of Key of Ultimate Power. Can they find the 'Key' & comrades and still master their new powers?
1. I

_Can you find me?_

_Open the door;_

_your destiny's calling_

_And I am the key_

_To unlocking your destiny...

* * *

_

_Sai smiled gently, ghostly tears coming to his eyes. "It was fun, Hikaru…" he said, "You just might be The One…"_

"'_The One'? The one what?" Hikaru asked curiously from his spot in front of the Goban. _

"_The One." Sai said mysteriously._

"_What do you mean Sai?" Hikaru was trying to be patient, he really was. After all, he hadn't seen his transparent friend in a long time._

"_The-beepbeepbeeeeeeep!!!!!!!"_

Hikaru shot up in bed, looking wildly around. Had it all been a dream, a fake? Or had Sai really come to visit him through his dreams?

He glared at his alarm clock, which continued to beep; a painful reminder that he _had_ been asleep.

"Hikaru!" his mother called from the other side of the door. "Get up; you're going to be late!"

The teen slapped the 'off' button roughly before getting out of bed and dressing.

* * *

Hikaru laughed, olive eyes sparkling, and threw a French fry at the boy across from him.

"It's true!" Waya defended himself, brining his arms up to block any other offending spuds his friend decided to throw at him. "Really! It was so weird, too!"

Hikaru rolled his eyes, still grinning, and made to throw another fry at him. Then, thinking better of the action, bit the fry in half.

Waya stared at him oddly, wondering why his friend hadn't thrown more food at him. Then again, he thought, it _was_ Shindou, and he was never one to waste food.

Hikaru shook his head. "I don't know what to say anymore, Waya." He sighed melodramatically, "I mean, I thought you always loved _me-_**Hey!**" He was rudely cut off as the other boy threw a handful of ice at him.

Waya glared at him, "I do _not_ love you, nor, for the record, do I love Touya."

"_You're_ the one who dreamed about Touya actually being a girl and seducing you so much that you wake up wet."

"I did not! I woke up very appalled, thankyouverymuch!"

"_Riiiiight_,"

"Touya's a smug bastard anyway, he wouldn't make a very good girl with that attitude."

"What's this about me not making a very good girl?"

Waya turned, face frozen partially in fear, to find none other than Touya Akira standing behind him, arms crossed and positively _glaring_ at him.

Hikaru clutched his sides, laughter wafting around the fast food restaurant. "He had a dream about you being a girl and seducing him to the point where he woke up wet and-"

Waya, moving quicker than he would have thought possible, slammed his hand down over Hikaru's mouth. But it was not enough to stop the words from the bleached blonde's mouth, or to shove them back in.

"Don't mind him!" He said quickly, "He's a bit off kilter." The next few words came out of his mouth before he could stop them, or even think about what it was he was saying. "It wasn't you who I was dreaming about, it was your mom."

"_What?"_ Touya's hands were suddenly clenched tightly at his sides, an angry flush rising high on his cheeks as his teal eyes flashed. Touya's voice seemed to shake the very foundation of the building, and Waya's hand slipped from covering Hikaru's mouth, hanging limply off the table.

"Well that's not much better now, is it?" Hikaru said, looking cautiously at his angry rival.

"Um…" Waya said intelligently, looking at Touya as if he were a kid who'd just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"_You had a-a-an _erotic_ dream about my **mother?"**_ Touya was livid, outraged. His hands shook at his sides and for the first time in his life he felt as if he wanted to _hit_ something--preferably a spiky-haired teenager something sitting rather near him.

Giving in to his instincts, Touya raised his fist, drew it back, and hit Waya right in the jaw. And of course, Waya being Waya couldn't let the opportunity to hit Touya by, and hit him back. Suddenly fists were flying, the two boys trying to kill each other as they rolled around on the floor.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this, Hikaru tried to break it up, only to get dragged into the it as well.

* * *

"What were you _thinking?"_ Touya Kuyou asked, looking at his son angrily.

Touya sat slumped in his chair at the police station, arms crossed and glaring at the floor. He looked finally like the teenager he really was with his mussed hair, big black bruise around his eye, and a cut lip--apart from the fact that he was dressed in a pair of casual dress pants and shirt. He refused bitterly to answer his father, partially because he was still angry(at his father for no apparent reason as well as at Waya), partially because he suddenly felt the responsibility of his actions and was disappointed in himself for not having more control, and partially because he couldn't find the words to tell his father what he had, in fact, been thinking--not that he could really remember himself.

Waya sat next to him, waiting for his parents to pick him up. He made a face, wincing a bit at how it hurt his jaw-Touya's punches could really _hurt_ when he was angry. Mentally, he made a note of that and filed it in the 'things to really remember' part of his brain. Hesitantly he opened his mouth--hesitantly because of the slight pain it caused him to do so and hesitantly because Touya's father was really, _really_ intimidating when he was angry.

"It's my fault, sir," he said, surprising both Hikaru (who sat to the right of him) and Akira.

"Oh?" he asked, brow shooting up in surprise, "And why exactly is it your fault?"

"Err," he said awkwardly, "I kind of, sort of, accidentally provoked him."

"It's my fault too!" Hikaru piped up, but except for Kuyou's gaze flickering to him breifly, went ignored. He was better off than the other two, sporting only the occasional bruises and scratches. Hikaru's mother was absent too at this meeting, Touya's father having been the only one close enough to get there as quickly as he had.

"Provoked him?" The question poked at him, telling him to go on.

Waya nodded, swallowing as he did so. He blushed and relayed the story to the elder man, growing redder as he did so.

Touya's father opened his mouth to say something when, suddenly he froze, the busy police officers in the back round along with him.

The three boys looked at him, wondering what had just happened.

"…Otousan?" Akira tried hesitantly, becoming worried when one of the policemen or his father moved.

Hikaru blinked and stood, walking over to the former Meijin and waving a hand frantically in front of his face. Nothing.

"No good," he said, looking back at the other two.

Their brows furrowed, looking at each other with identical bewildered expressions.

"What the hell just happened?" Waya asked for the three of them.

"I don't know, but it's getting weirder," Touya said, pointing behind Hikaru.

They turned and allowed their mouths to hag open at the sight before them. The color, it seemed, was seeping away from the walls, floors, pictures and even the people, leaving them in two shades of gray. None of the boys, however, seemed to be affected.

"Can you go color blind?" Hikaru asked, peering around the room, curiosity peeked. He seemed to be taking it better than the other two-but then again, he _had_ had a ghost inhabiting his conciseness for over a year.

"No, you idiot!" Akira snapped, glaring at his fellow teen, then added, somewhat matter-of-factly, "Besides, look at yourself. We're the only ones still colored. If we were color blind we wouldn't be able to tell that we were still colored, would we?"

Hikaru pouted, somewhat dismayed at being reprimanded, and turned, walking back to his seat. He sighed before he crossed his arms and allowed himself to plop back down in his chair.

"Nothing to do but wait, I guess," Touya said, looking around at the others. His anger seemed to have diminished when his father had frozen and turned gray, and he was now sitting up properly in his seat.

"To hell with that!" Waya said, embarrassment forgotten, and stood, weaving his way around the police officers and to the front door. He tugged on the handles, and then again when he found it wouldn't open. Hopefully he looked at a window, only to be dismayed as he saw they had bars on them. He turned around, crossing his arms as Hikaru had done moments before and glared at Touya as if this were all his fault. The messy-haired teen weaved back through the formally blue-clad officers, hopping over a suspended pile of falling paperwork as he did so. Waya slumped down in his chair, glaring down at his feet.

"What kind of police station puts bars on their windows?" He asked irritably.

"The kind that have pokies," Touya supplied, none to helpfully. Waya opened his mouth to retort, only to be cut off prematurely as a bright ball of light appeared out of nowhere and wound its way through the officers, exploding brightly as it stopped in front of Touya Senior.

"Who the hell are you!" Waya asked, glaring at the color figure that had appeared before them.

Hikaru's heart stopped, and found his mouth to be suddenly dry. Tears stung at his eyes as he looked at the smiling, opaque figure.

He started to speak, his voice the exact same pitch he remembered it to be, "I am-"

Hikaru opened his mouth in astonishment, the words coming out somewhat breathlessly to cut off the ghost.

"…Sai…"


	2. II

"_In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself."_

_--_ Jiddu Krishnamurti

* * *

"Sai…" 

Both Touya and Waya's heads snapped suddenly to the right, openly gaping at Shindou.

"_This_ is Sai?!" they demanded in two unison bursts of outrage, giving Waya an excuse to glare quickly at Touya before turning back to his friend.

But he wasn't listening. Shindou stared at the tall, Hiean-period man in shock. "B-but how, Sai? I thought—I thought you were gone." His words were thick with unshed tears, punctuated by disbelief and a grief he thought he had left behind.

To the left of him, both boys looked slightly worried; Hikaru rarely if ever cried and Touya could remember only once having seen his rival do so, after his shattering loss to Ko Yongha at the Young Lions Tournament.

"I-I thought you had _died_," he admitted, eyes shining with tears and pain. He could not accurately describe how he'd felt at Sai's disappearance other than that; Sai had been as real and alive to Shindou as anyone, and his sudden departure had felt like death.

Sai gave him a sympathetic and understanding smile. "I'm back." He said gently, "I'm back, Hikaru."

Those words cemented it for him. For a moment, he for got his mentor was still a spirit as he began to cry, and launched himself at the older man.

Sai was firm—_solid_. Not warm, a little under room temperature in fact, but **solid**; Hikaru wrapped his arms around him greedily—finally, _finally_ he could touch the man who'd had such a great impact on his life.

In response, Sai wrapped his arms around Hikaru as well, tilting he head downwards to gaze affectionately at the top of Hikaru's head and smiling slightly. He did not say anything, but silently allowed his pupil to cry, his robes soaking up the salty tears of the boy whose heart and mind he had inhabited.

Akira and Yoshitaka watched silently from the sidelines, feeling like intruders on this obviously private moment, but staying and watching anyway, not knowing what else to do.

Finally Shindou inhaled and released it in one great, shuddering breath, before pulling back from his old teacher and standing next to his friends/rivals. A small amount of tension disappeared from each of them when he did that; suddenly things seemed less surreal with Shindou back in charge of his emotions and standing next to them. And, it made things significantly less awkward.

"Sai, how…?" Shindou asked, more than a bit confused, "I thought—I thought when you left, that you were gone for good. That you'd moved on. Why'd you come back? Or did you…did you really just leave me?"

"I could never just _leave_ you, Hikaru!" Sai exclaimed, protesting at once. "I've come back. But not completely of my on volition." He gave a pleased, if melancholy, smile. "I've returned here, to you, for a very important and complex reason. You, Touya, and Waya are going to help save the world."

There was a moment of thick, stunned silence.

"**_What?!_**" Waya asked, in a mix of outrage and disbelief. "What do you mean, 'save the world'?"

Almost immediately, Touya was covering up for the slightly elder boy's outburst with his politeness. Most likely though, he was close to doing his own version of what Waya had. "I think what Waya means, Sai-san, is could you perhaps please elaborate?" And, though his words were kind, his eyes held a steeliness to them that he almost certainly would not have had with any other stranger.

The spectral man nodded, seemingly amused, at either Touya's evident anger, or having been addressed as '-san.' "Of course." He said, and motioned that they should sit. Shindou and Touya did so almost immediately, though Shindou out of trust and Touya manners and curiosity. Waya huffed angrily, looking at the two as if they had just personally affronted him before crossing his arms in agitation and taking his seat.

Sai's raven hair swished slightly about him as he sat, assuming sheiza in front of them and exposing Touya-seniors still frozen, livid face. He glanced around once, looking mildly interested as he gained his bearings.

"Where are we?" he asked nobody in particularly, staring for a second at the time and color suspended stack of falling papers Waya had jumped earlier.

"A police station," Hikaru answered hesitantly, hoping for Sai's naïveté about this era to shine through as it had when they'd first met.

Unfortunately, such was not the case.

"What?" It was Sai's turn to raise his voice, eyes growing wide as he looked at his pupil, "Hikaru, what did you _do?"_

The boy with the bleached bangs blushed, "Nothing!" he protested earnestly, "The three of use accidentally got in a little fight, but we're fine. It was nothing, anyway; the restaurant isn't even pressing charges! We just aren't ever allowed back there again."

Sai looked unconvinced.

"We didn't eat there that often anyway," Hikaru offered, as his last line of defense.

Sai conceded, sighing as his shoulders slumped and his eyes closed.

"Can we…get back to the whole, saving the world thing?" Waya asked, slightly agitated at the detour from the topic.

Sai's eyes snapped open, tension suddenly back in his shoulders and posture. "Yes!" he said, "As we speak, dark forces are moving steadily towards earth. They have one objective: find the key to ultimate hidden somewhere here on earth, and use it to destroy the universe. The three of you will be joined by three others, and the six of you are to prevent that from happening."

There was another stunned silence.

"Oh, yeah, and what do you expect us to do when they get here, throw Go stones at them? Because that's all any of us are good at, playing Go!"

"Speak for yourself," Waya muttered resentfully, shooting another glare at Touya, origin of the outburst. In an instant the teal eyed boy had gone from passive and polite to annoyed and angry.

Sai, however, was not offended by Touya's anger, and was about to expand when Hikaru spoke.

"He's right, though. What can we do?"

"The six of you," started the ghost, "were chosen for some unique ability you posses. They've been dormant for most of your lives, and will only begin to manifest now that you need them. Each of the other three are in some way connected to you, and it's up to you to find them and tell them this. But, you've little time to do so; there's barely a week left until they arrive."

For a long while, they could think of nothing to say. It was hard to believe. But also, somehow, hard _not_ to believe.

Hikaru had no reservations. "A week, right?" he confirmed, "And there are three others. Do we know them?"

"I don't know," Sai shook his head apologetically.

Waya shook his head. "No way," he said, "This sort of stuff happens to people who are _ready_ for it. Not three don't-even-know-what-sort-of-powers-they-have teenagers!"

"Yeah, but, doesn't that make it sort of more believable? The fact that it goes against every sort of movie?" Touya asked, torn between belief and disbelief himself. It was a kind of ache, a need to belong to something other than Go, which led him to half-believe this fully-baked idea.

Shindou agreed, nodding. "Right. Besides, we could be ready, you don't know!" he exclaimed in boisterous excitement that hadn't really shown since he was younger.

Again, Sai smiled. Then, having delivered the message the Gods had asked him to, brought his hand to his mouth to hide it. He was normal again, amused at Hikaru's boundless excitement.

"But," Waya protested, "There's no way this can be happening. It's way to surreal!"

Shindou's smile dropped, "I know." He said seriously, "And it'll take some getting used to, but—But guys, I _trust_ him."

Slightly awed by his friends words, Waya detoured slightly. How could he so easily trust this "Sai"? "Shindou, who—"

"Okay." Waya was cut off by Touya, whose eyes had suddenly narrowed, face as serious as if he were going into an extremely important game. "I trust you, Shindou."

"…Touya…" Shindou said, staring at him.

"You told me once that you'd tell me about the mystery surrounding you and Sai someday," he expanded, "but if that someday isn't someday soon…" he broke off, shaking his head and fighting off the urge to say something as childishly as "then I won't be your friend anymore."

Shindou nodded, swallowing thickly. "Alright."

Slightly thrown by Touya's sudden acceptance and seriousness, as well as this revelation, Waya couldn't say anything.

Hikaru looked at him. "Waya," he started, "It's hard to believe, I know. But weather or not you believe doesn't matter. It this is real, you'll be pulled along for the ride regardless. You won't have a choice, and sooner or later you'll have to believe it. Even if you don't now, come along and _try_ to."

"I—" Waya's shoulders slumped, defeated. "Okay. I'm not saying I believe you, but okay. I'll come along."

Shindou and Sai beamed, laughing merrily.

"Good!" they said.

"Then," Sai said, "I guess everything can start again." The long haired man stood, bringing his fan to his mouth.

"But—" Shindou looked worriedly form Sai to Touya's father.

"Don't worry," Sai said, following Shindou's trail of sight and becoming briefly surprised. Apparently he hadn't noticed the elder Touya until now. He continued, eyes still trained on the former Meijin. "Only the six of you will be able to see me; if he can, then he is one of the six." He spread his fan and in a flash everything was back to normal; phones were ringing, Touya Kuyou's face had flushed back to it's angry red, and the stack of papers finally fell to the floor with a crash.

The only thing different was Sai. He stood slightly in front of but to the right of Kuyou, nearest Akira. The former Go pro did not notice him.

"—_disgrace!_ What do you have to say for yourself?" The older man demanded, drawing the other three's attention back to him.

Touya paused only to realize what was going on. "I am sorry, Otousan," he bowed his head slightly; "It was a brief lapse in judgment. I lost control of myself. It will never happen again."

The former Meijin considered him for a moment. "Alright." He stopped a passing officer. "May we leave?"

The young officer nodded. "All four of you are free to go. It was only a warning next time, so there's no need to detain you any longer. But next time, they could end up facing charges, and it _will_ go on their record."

Touya nodded, "Thank you," he said respectfully, and motioned for the boys to follow him out.

"We'll continue this discussion at home, Akira." He said gravely, "I'm late for a meeting; can I trust you not to start any fights once I leave?"

"Yes, Otousan," Akira said obediently, bowing his head to show remorse.

"Good." The adult folded his arms into his sleeves, gave a brief, intimidating look to each of them, and left, rounding the corner quickly.

Shindou sighed, placing a hand over his heart and looking comically relieved. "You're dad is _scary_, Touya!"

Touya said nothing, staring silently after his father.

"We have to find the other three "chosen ones", right?" He asked finally, turning. The other three began to walk with him, but before anyone could answer, and ambulance blared by, cutting off any answer someone might have had with it's loud siren. A moment later, a car stopped abruptly next to them, and the passenger window rolled down, showing a panic-stricken middle aged woman.

"Hikaru!" she called breathlessly.

"Obaasan!" Shindou's eyes widened in surprise, "What's wrong; did something happen?"

"Oh, thank goodness we saw you, Hikaru! It's Akari's grandfather—he suddenly collapsed and is on his way to the hospital, but we can't find Akari anywhere! Everything just happened so fast and then we had to go, and—oh, Hikaru, can you please go look for her?"

"Of course—always!" he declared immediately, suddenly worried and serious.

"Thank you," she said sincerely, reaching out and holding his hand in hers a moment. "Start at the house, we only had time to call for her."

Shindou nodded, and waited only until their car had started moving again to take off, running in the direction the care had come.

"Shindou!" Touya yelled in surprise.

His rival didn't slow, and said nothing even as his friends drew up and ran with him. Memories of what he'd thought was a forgotten friendship welled up in him all at once, fueling his worries and forcing his legs to pump faster.

In his mind's eyes, he saw Akari, when they were six, crying because she'd scrapped her knee. At ten, when she'd come to him, upset, because her parents were getting a divorce and she hadn't even known anything was wrong. At twelve, fussing over him the day after Sai'd first appeared in his conciousness, and thirteen, declaring that she would be a member of the Go club, even though she didn't know anything about the game, just because Hikaru was getting farther away from her. And then Graduation, the last time he had seen her for more than five minutes and talked to her.

…how long ago had that been? A year? More? It hadn't seemed that long until he actually thought about it. How could he have gone a year without really talking to the person who'd been his best friend since before they hadn't even been an inch long?

He hopped the electronic card swiper with ease once he was underground, and ran onto the subway.

Touya and Waya followed, Waya mimicking Shindou and Touya swiping his card. The car took off almost as soon as they were all in.

'_Missing,'_ the word echoed in Shindou's brain, taunting him, _'Akari is missing,'_

* * *

**A Note To All My Readers: (if I still have any)**

Aaa, damn, you all probably wanna kill me--_if_ you even remember me, that is. Sorry, sorry! ((rubs neck sheepishly)) With updates and stuff.. it's not that I lose interest, or have suddenly died, or have lost my muse or anything like that...it's just pure laziness. I usually have pretty much the entire story mapped out in my head (which is why I have trouble handing off prompts), and then it's just a matter of putting it in print.

I haven't even updated this story in, what, like a year? And a half? That's changing though, I promise! This is going to be the first fic I finish, before I move on to any of the others. I might put new stuff up, though...can't really stop those plot bunnies. But, this I'm going to finish, with the help of the livejournal community ficoff.

It's like a support group for constant WiPers...

...like me...-.-;

Just so you know though, I'm going to try and possibly go for a weekly update thing. My friend's'll be mad--I'm also working on a Naruto fic with them shamelessly inserted into it--but, tough.

So, love and cookies to all though who remember me and will continue reading.


	3. III

_In order for us to truly accomplish our destiny, we must first be open to accepting it._

_

* * *

_

Today was a beautiful day. And, at any other time, Hikaru probably would have noticed it. As it were, the weather might as well have been wet and rainy for all he cared about it.

He stormed through the unlocked door of his childhood friend's house, rudely not pausing to remove his sneakers at the genkan.

"Sai, check upstairs!" he called over his shoulder to the spirit, running across the living room and out of sight. The spirit nodded, going to as told, while both Waya and Touya stood in the entryway, watching their frantic friend reappear into the main part of the house, unsure of what to make of his sudden behavior. Waya kicked off his sneakers automatically, taking a few steps into the family space as behind him, Touya bent to remove his loafers and then stood, with them in hand.

"Shindou!" Touya called, hoping to slow him down.

Hikaru stopped his tirade through the house. "What?" he snapped, glaring at his rival in a way normally only seen in the moments prior to an official game.

Touya took it in stride, calmly ignoring the look that had caused Waya to cringe, "Calm down and _think_," he urged, "you know her better than any of us; where is she likely to be?"

"I don't _know_," he hissed, angry more at himself than at Touya. Akari was his childhood friend, damn it! And he couldn't find her?

Before his rival could reply, Sai reentered the room at a near gliding pace, and Hikaru looked to him hopefully. Sai shook his head, and Shindou ran an angry hand through his hair, shooting a glare towards the floor.

"Shindou," Waya said then, "I hate to say it, but Touya's right," he shot a brief glare in Touya's direction before he continued, "You need to think."

That was the last thing he wanted to do. If he stopped to think, his mind would run through all the horrible possibilities of what could have happened to her. In hope, he glanced to Sai again, only to see the same urging look on his face as the others. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and ignored what years of hearing his parents talk about the nightly news had done to his immediate thought process, and instead focused on what he _knew_, to think logically.

Then suddenly his eyes shot open in epiphany, "The shed!" he declared, and ran towards the back of the house, the others following.

In the backyard, there was a small, tin shed painted grey, used for storing a small push-mower and some gardening tools. When they were little, Hikaru had won every game of hide-and-seek they'd ever played, because no matter how many times she was told to hide somewhere different, Akari would always hide in the shed. He remembered also, when she had found out about her parents divorce that this was where she had been. How could he possibly have forgotten?

The door to the shed slid open on a rusty track, squeaking harshly in the otherwise quiet atmosphere, allowing light to flood the small space. From the corner, someone gasped, and Hikaru stepped inside, easily pinpointing Akari.

"Don't come any closer!" came Akari's high-pitched warning.

"Akari, it's me, Hikaru," he said, taking another step.

"Don't come any closer!" she screeched again, ignoring his introduction, "If you do-if you do, I might kill you, too!" a sob was wrenched from her throat, and two, hot, thick tears fell down her cheeks.

"You think you killed your grandpa?" Hikaru asked in disbelief, dropping to his knees to kneel in front of Akari, "Akari, your grandpa's fine. He's at the hospital now, and he's perfectly fine,"

She stared at him with wide, disbelieving eyes, "Really?" she asked, and when Hikaru nodded, launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a desperate hug.

Shocked, and unsure what to do, he glanced back at his friends for help. Both Touya and Sai failed miserably, looking just as lost as him, but luckily Waya, his saving grace, mimed a helpful motion, and he wrapped his arms comfortingly around her.

* * *

Akari walked out of her grandfather's hospital room a while later, her cheeks still damp with the tears she had shed earlier. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, looking at the Go players who had accompanied her here.

"He's fine," she said at last, with a smile, "he forgot to take his heart medication, and didn't even see what I did."

Curiosity peaked once more, Hikaru looked at her and asked, "What did you do?"

Her previous elation at her grandfather's wellness vanished, and she looked to the ground, "I…I don't know," she told them.

"If you don't want to tell us, Akari, you don't have to," her friend promised.

At that, Akari looked up, suddenly urgent. "It's not that! I really don't know what happened. I…I was angry about something, and then I threw my hand out, like this, you know?" she motioned slowly with her right arm, "And then, I don't know. This-this bright, purple light shot out of my hand—it, it didn't hit anything, just disappeared, but the next thing I knew, Grandpa was on the floor, and everyone was screaming, and worried—so I ran, and I hid in the shed."

Akari had closed her eyes, so she didn't see it as all three of the pro's glanced toward Sai in a questioning manner; could she see him, too? Was she another of the "chosen few"? But if she could, wouldn't she have said something by now?

Akari turned and started down the hall towards the elevator, prompting the others to follow her.

"But anyway," she said, sounding considerably more cheerful as she tried to place the event out of her mind, "Aren't you going to introduce me, Hikaru? I already know Touya-san from when we were in the Go club," she added as an afterthought.

"Go club?" Waya asked, confused, "But Touya went to Kaio, didn't he? And Shindou, you went to Haze? Did you meet in a tournament, then?"

The girl shook her head, "No, actually he—"

"Akari!" Hikaru said quickly, cutting her off, "Nobody needs to hear about that."

Everyone looked at him oddly. He was so used to keeping the secret of Sai, that he had automatically cut her off. Sai leaned over, and whispered into Hikaru's ear, "Hikaru, it's alright. You were going to tell them soon anyway, right?"

Knowing he was right, Shindou laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I…well, back then," he said to the group at large, "Touya was the one chasing _me_, only I didn't want to play him—not until I was good enough, which is weird when you consider the fact that for someone to chase you, you have to be better than them in the first place, but Ill explain that later," he promised, as he realized he was rambling, "But because I wouldn't play him, he showed up at school one day and that's how Akari knows him."

If possible, Hikaru's rushed speech only caused them to start more.

Waya was first to come out of it, shaking his head to clear it of the confusion that was Shindou, and finally introduce himself to Akari.

"It's nice to meet you—you became a pro with Hikaru, didn't you?" At Waya's nod, she smiled, "Good to know my memory isn't as horrible as Hikaru always claimed," then, ignoring Hikaru's indignant shout of "Hey!", she did something unexpected, and turned to address Sai, asking for his name.

And then, this time, it was her turn to be stared at. "What?" she asked, suddenly feeling stupid, "Did he already say his name and I'm just being ditzy?"

"No," Sai said gently, going around Hikaru to stand before Akari, to look her in the eye, "No, I haven't. My name is Fujiwara no Sai, and it's a pleasure to finally be able to introduce myself to you, Fujisaki Akari," Sai's happy smile broadened, even while Akari looked at him, more confused than ever.


	4. IV

_"I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be."_

* * *

Five people (four physical and one spectral) sat across from one another at a café near Tokyo Grand Central Hospital

Five people (four physical and one spectral) sat across from one another at a café near Tokyo Grand Central Hospital. Four of them, including the spectral one, were explaining recent turns of events to the fifth, who sat there numbly, taking in everything they were saying with wide eyes. When they finished, she continued to sit there, processing.

"So you're saying," said Akari tentatively, "that _he_" she pointed to the spectral figure diagonal her, "is a ghost."

Across from her, a boy with bleached bangs and olive eyes, a boy she had known all her life, nodded.

"And we," she made a gesture, encompassing the entire group with a small arc of her arm, "are supposed to save the world from what are basically alien invaders?"

Again, Hikaru nodded. "Basically," he said simply.

The group was silent. Akari worked her top lip with her teeth, fiddling quietly with several pink sugar packets, carefully avoiding anyone's gaze as she thought. Without noticing, she paid special attention to not even as much as turn her head in Touya's direction.

Akari closed her eyes, exhaled slowly, and stood, swinging her purse over her arm as she did so. Then, without saying so much as a word, she promptly walked out of the café.

Having been terrified with the thought of loosing her once already today, Hikaru was quick to follow her.

"Akari!"

"Leave me _alone_, Hikaru!"

"C'mon, Akari, you have to believe me!"

"What? What did you say? I can't hear you!"

"Plea-"

"**Lalalalalalala!"**

She knew it was childish, knew that their shouting match was drawing attention to them as they drew nearer to the hospital. Knew that as they passed by them, people were most likely whispering rumors about a "lovers quarrel", but she didn't care. She didn't want to listen to a word he said. They reached the hospital doors by this time, and the two panes of glass slid apart in anticipation of the teenager's entrance.

For a moment, Akari stood silently in the doorway, hands clenched into fists at her sides, her back to her childhood friend. Hikaru watched her back pleadingly, willing her to turn around so the two of them could _talk._

In a split second decision, Akari did just that, and Hikaru winced at the sight of her. Her glare was sharp, even through angry tears. "I was just starting to get over not having you in my life anymore," she told him, "and now, to find about this, that I'll have to be around you again, for who knows how long?! I just-I can't do it, not when I know that after it's all over, you'll go back to acting like we've never even _met._ I can't do it. I won't."

Akari turned her back to him, and went inside, the glass doors closing behind her a heavy punctuation to her angry speech.

Bewildered and hurt by her words, Hikaru only watched her go. Did she really think he meant to leave her behind? He certainly hadn't; in fact, he hadn't even fully realized she was no longer constantly by his side until nearly graduation, and by then, it was simply too late to go back. But things would be different this time, he was sure of that. He just wasn't sure how to convince _her_ of that.

"Hikaru, what the hell was that?!" Waya demanded, storming angrily over to his friend, effectively breaking through Hikaru's mental ravine. "You just ran out! Touya and I barely had enough between us to cover the check!"

"Where did Akari-chan go?" Sai asked, ignoring both Waya's outburst and the annoyed look Touya kept shooting his protégée. "Did she go back inside to see her grandfather?"

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah," he turned, and started walking down the sidewalk, further away from the hospital, knowing the others would follow him. And they did, Sai practically flying to his side, able to tell just by Hikaru's short response that something had happened. Vestiges of their former mental link still enabled him to understand Hikaru better than anyone, and he knew that while he didn't want to talk about it, Sai's mere presence by him was appreciated. And, while Touya had never shared the same bond with Hikaru as Sai had, he was at least perceptive enough to realize that something had changed and drop the annoyed look he had held earlier. Waya himself, while perceptive, was still caught up in his whirlwind of hatred for Touya and projecting it as annoyance at having to pay the bill, but he had at least taken to grumbling to himself about it. Otherwise, the boys were mostly silent, none of them sure what to say to break the heavy atmosphere Hikaru's silence had awarded them.

"Shindou-" Touya started, only to cut himself off in surprise as someone ran by him. A second later, and three more people had run by heading in the same direction as the first. Hikaru, Touya, and Waya shared a confused look, but before anyone could question what was going on, a piercing scream filled the air. Sai looked in the direction it had come from-the direction opposite the people had been fleeing, eyes wide in bewildered panic and horror.

"They can't have…" was all he said, before disappearing into the crowd that had formed from people fleeing whatever disaster was happening up ahead.

Without having to think about it, seemingly by some unspoken agreement, Hikaru, Touya, and Waya ran forward, following the spirit towards the sound of what had become scream_s_.

The intersection of fourth and main had never looked so empty. There were still small groups of people, as well as individuals, but for the most part, it was empty. And it wasn't hard to tell the reason why: above them, floating four or five stories up was what could only be termed a UFO. It had a spinning top, with several barrels jutting off of it at random angles. Bright, glaring beams of red energy were being shot from the barrels, and when they hit something, they reflected harmlessly off of the object. Until they found something living.

The heat from the fires was intense. Already several trees were aflame, and a small, contorted lump that Hikaru severely hoped was not a person.

"Fuck," Waya whispered in horrified awe.

"Is that-?" Hikaru began, but left the question hanging. _Is that them?_ he had been meaning to ask.

"Yes," Sai said bluntly.

"Fuck," Waya repeated, more heated this time.

"We have to do something," Touya said firmly.

"We can't do anything against _that!_" Waya ducked, and cursed again, as a beam rebounded above him.

"It doesn't matter!" Touya insisted, "Even if it's just getting these people out of here, we have to do _something!_"

Across from him, Waya swallowed, eyes betraying his fear of going up against _that_, but he nodded, and the two of them split apart, Touya running across the street towards one horror-stricken family, and Waya heading towards a petrified boy near them.

Hikaru stood from his place next to Sai, watching the UFO in surprising resolve. "Sai," he said quietly, wandering into the street, "it will only get worse, won't it?" He didn't need to see his teacher's face to know the answer was the affirmative. Hikaru sighed, and briefly closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were hard and determined, just as if he were going into a difficult match. "Alright," he said to himself, and ran across the street, to direct a girl away from the danger of the UFO.

Sai watched on in horror, as three teenage boys, boys who were much too young to have to be doing something like this, easily directed civilians away from danger, heedless of their own safety. He drew a sharp breath, despite the fact that he no longer had the need to breathe, and fought against the overwhelming sympathetic sadness he suddenly felt for the six of them who had been labeled as saviors of the universe by Lady Fate. Not knowing what else he could do, Sai closed his eyes and dipped his head. "Dear Kami-sama," he began.

Waya stifled a frustrated growl. "Just go _that way!_" he said, pointing in the direction that would lead the group to safety fastest. Unfortunately, it was a group of tourists from China, and he didn't know a word of Chinese. Touya did, but Touya was busy with others across the street. Deciding to give it one more try before he just gave up, as horrible as that sounded, he threw his arm out in the direction they should go, and started again, "_Go-" _Before he could continue, one of the tourists gasped, and pointed in the direction he had flung his arm. He turned, curious, just in time to see a _goddamned SUV fly through the air and hit the fucking UFO._

The two collided into the building behind them, right under where Shindou had been directing three civilians away from the attack.

'_FUCK!'_ he thought, desperately willing it so somehow miss Shindou and them as it fell, but knowing there was no _way_ it could miss, they had been right under it, and oh god he had just _killed_ one of his _friends!!_

…except that he hadn't. Shindou and the three civilians were alive, looking scared for their lives and confused, but alive, surrounded by the wreckage of two machines and part of an office building. A shielding of yellow energy had protected them, but now that he wasn't reacting off of pure instinct and he could see what he had done, Shindou's shield was beginning to dissipate.

A creative list of curses flew through his head, and he ran towards Shindou at the same time Touya did, just in time to catch him as he stumbled down the small hill of wreckage. He barely noticed as Sai joined them, gliding deftly over to them with worry shining in his eyes.

"I did that," Shindou whispered, still clinging to Waya in stunned awe, "I _saved_ them."

"Yeah," Waya mumbled, "and I nearly killed them." He spared a glance around at the remaining people. They were recovering from their near-death experiences and looking around. If they didn't leave _fast_ they were going to be getting more attention than they ever wanted. He glanced behind him at the tourists, and was horrified to realize they were taking pictures. "We have to get out of here," he announced. Sirens were already nearing. The hospital was still close. The other two nodded, and the three of them ran, careful to avoid civilians and hiding their faces when they had to run by one.

When it began to become more and more apparent that people were graduating back to the scene of the incident, they ducked into an alley in order to hide. Waya and Shindou bent over, resting their palms on their knees and trying to catch their breath. Touya leaned against the alley wall, doing the same.

"That was close," Shindou said, once he had caught his breath, "hopefully no one was focusing enough on our faces to recognize us."

"Yeah," Waya continued for him, "that would be bad,"

"If we're lucky, only a few of them will have been involved enough in the Go world to potentially recognize us. And with what was going on, I doubt if anyone will make the connection between three lower-dan Go pros and three teenagers who just rescued them from an alien attack."

"Really now? Are you sure about that?"

The four of them whipped about to stare at who had just spoken. It was a tall boy, with red hair. His hands were pressed casually into his pockets, and he was leaning against a trashcan with what could only be described as cat-like grace, but the alarming thing about him was the small, knowing smirk he held on his lips.


	5. V

_The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing that you will make one._

_--Elbert Hubbard_

* * *

"And you are?" Touya's cold voice cut through the silence that had fallen in the alleyway like a knife.

The redhead broke his gaze with Shindou to fix his eyes on Touya. He circled the group once, twice, like a predator, silently debating weather or not the question was worth his time to answer.

Shindou watched him carefully; taking the time he circled them to gauge the stranger's appearance. He was tall and thin, but not in a ganglie way, with red hair that curled over the tips of his ears. His eyes were purple, with a calculating edge to them, slanted like a feral cat's. He was familiar, Shindou realized, but he struggled to place him.

"Mitani!" he exclaimed suddenly, face lighting up with recognition.

Touya shared an incredulous glance with Waya. Did Shindou know _everyone?_

"Took you long enough," Mitani said, corner of his mouth turning up in a slightly mocking smirk, "I was starting to think you didn't remember me."

Shindou made a face at him.

Mitani was smiling now, and had gone back to circling them, only now it seemed playful as opposed to predatory. He stopped, standing next to Shindou, but looking slightly to the left of him, locking eyes with Sai. "I see you've still got your stalker," he commented, grinning as Sai's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"Stalker?" Shindou asked, confused at first to what Mitani meant. He followed the direction of his stare to Sai. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "Yeah, Sai-wait. You can see him?"

In an instant, Mitani's smirk was back. "I've always been able to see him," he said lightly. A second later, he frowned, as if remembering something that had confused him, but shook his head, evidently forcing the thought away.

For the second time that day, Shindou and the others exchanged a meaningful look. Mitani could see Sai; had always been able to see Sai. But what did that mean? Was he one of them? Was he person number five, meant to join them in their quest to save the universe? Could they really be so lucky?

"So," Waya ventured carefully, "Why are you here, Mitani-san?"

"Just Mitani," he corrected, "and isn't it obvious? I'm supposed to help you save the world."

Silence had fallen in the alleyway again. Shindou, Waya, and Touya exchanged a doubtful glance, but all eyes were on Mitani, unsure of his sudden announcement. The three of them hadn't even known until earlier that afternoon of their supposed destiny, and even then that had been with the help of Sai. If they hadn't known, how had Mitani?

Mitani saw their disbelief, and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, both frustrated and annoyed. This was always the hard part. The part where they either believed him, or they didn't. The part with no in-between. "I'm _psychic_," he emphasized. "I can see ghosts, and I can see the past or future just by touching something," he could tell they didn't quite believe him yet and expanded, "A few weeks ago I was walking by here when I tripped. I saw seven people. The four of us, and two others I couldn't quite see, talking about saving the world. So I've been coming here every Saturday since trying to make that happen, and today, it finally paid off."

Admittedly, the idea would normally be a little hard to swallow. But after the day that they had had, they were willing to take just about anything. And, altogether, it wasn't actually all that far-fetched. The only thing actually hard to believe was how Mitani had found them, but under the circumstances, they had no choice.

"This is going to be fun," Mitani promised with a grin, sensing their acceptance.

The five of them walked together out of the alleyway. Hikaru heaved a dejected sigh, not wanting to say what he was about to say. "I guess we should probably tell Akari," he said.

Mitani's head whipped around, and he stared at Hikaru, looking panicked. "Akari?" He asked. His voice pitched and cracked with his words. "_Fujisaki,_ Akari?!"

While he probably wouldn't admit it, even under pain of death, Hikaru was secretly thankful for Mitani's unexplainable unwillingness to see Akari right now. They're 'argument' had happened less than an hour ago, and was still a fresh wound. If he saw Akari now, she would be angry, and he would probably do something stupid. So, he was thankful.

Mitani shook his head, glaring at the group. "_No,"_ he said through gritted teeth, "We don't need to tell her!"

Touya's glare was sharper than usual, and it was aimed at Mitani, though the anger behind it was somehow only half directed at the redhead. "Don't need to tell her? She's a part of the group! Of _course_ we need to tell her!"

"It's not like we can just forget about her," Waya added, forgetting for the moment his distaste of Touya and agreeing with him, "And we found out about her before we found out about you, so she has seniority—we should tell her!"

"She'll find out anyway," Touya shot at him, "even if your not psychic, you should be able to tell that much-we need her!"

"_No!"_ Mitani insisted.

The three of them looked to Shindou to settle the argument. Shindou, suddenly aware that he had somehow been placed in the position of leader, scrambled for something that would seem like a diplomatic answer.

"We…can't," he finally said, the words sounding forced from his mouth. "The…uh, the attack was too near the hospital. Someone might recognize us. We can tell Akari. But we should…tell her later?" Hikaru offered, unsure how powerful his words would prove to be. They had certainly had an affect, on at least Mitani and Waya. As someone who had been against telling her, Mitani was pleased with Shindou's answer, while Waya was resigned-Shindou had raised a good point.

"You're an idiot," Touya told him. He crossed his arms, fingers twitching slightly like they were holding and placing the stones on a Go board. It was a habit Hikaru had noticed his rival doing only when he was trying to hide his agitation. "Just…an idiot!"

"An idiot?!" Hikaru bristled at Touya's words, "An idiot for trying to protect us?! If we go back there now, someone's bound to recognize us, and then we'll get caught, questioned—or maybe even dissected—and then who will save the world? Akari, with the one other person we haven't even _found,_ and Sai? If we go back there-if we go back—" Hikaru's voice caught and cracked, his eyes went wide, and then he stopped talking altogether. For the first time, the full reality had caught up to him. More than caught up to him; it had chased him down and kneed him in the groin before taking his wallet. Suddenly, his heart was racing. This situation was worse than any he had ever been in before. Even when Sai had first appeared and he thought he was going crazy-the worst that could have happened then was being locked up in a padded cell and made to see a psychologist. But this situation was worse. So much more worse than anything he could have previously imagined. This situation was _hell._

It wasn't just him and a potentially-imaginary spirit anymore. This was Waya, Mitani, Touya, Akari, and him. And even if people thought they were only insane, they would still take them in for evaluation, and then something would happen, somebody would accidently use their powers or place them at the scene _as_ the kids with powers, and then they would be more than just crazy. They would be freaks. Laboratory experiments; something anomalous that needed to be figured out, and if that wasn't possible, potentially destroyed to prevent it from happening again. And they would miss the invasion, and They would come, and the key would be found, and they would destroy the universe.

Suddenly, his heart was racing. He didn't know why, and took a deep breath to try and calm himself-only one wasn't enough, and so he took another deep breath, and another, and then his entire _chest_ felt like it had just shrunk to the size of a pea and he wasn't getting enough air-he just wasn't! And he was supposed to be the leader? How the hell had that even _happened?!_ Everyone had just sort of defaulted to him, and now he was—oh _god,_ he couldn't breathe! Great, heaving, big breaths, but there still wasn't enough air to fill his pea-sized chest. Distantly, from above him, he heard Touya call out for him to calm down-that he was having a panic attack and needed to _calm down_-and realized that he had somehow fallen down, for Touya's voice to be above him, but other than that, didn't register the words. All he could think of was scientists and white lab coats, and needles, restraints, the key being found, the world exploding, the universe lost—and somehow it was **all. his. fault.**

Then there was the cool press of someone's fingertips to his forehead, and the world went blissfully black.

* * *

**Wooo! So I'm back! It's been a while, and I'm not sure, but I think I've updated in a little less than a year this time. It plauges me to admit it, but I've had just about half of this chapter written for at least two weeks. It didn't seem right, and now that I've added the scene with Hikaru's panic attack, it finally seems like it's ending in the right place. :)**

**I've also been experiencing a bit of drama this week at school, but hopefully now that should be over. One thing that brightened up my week, and I'm hoping yours too--go to youtube and search for "Vitas Opera 2". It's seriously amazing.**

**Anyway, thank you all for reading! Please review; I'm hoping to have the next chapter up before Valentines Day. :)  
**


	6. VI

Hikaru's rise to consciousness was slow and disorienting, like he was coming up through a vat of syrup. As he opened his eyes, someone called his name, but he flinched away from it, the voice sharp to his ears.

"Shindou, what's wrong?"

That was Waya's voice. Waya's voice, sounding worried for some reason. He opened his mouth to try and respond, but all that came out was a low groan of pain. Every part of him felt _wrong_. Pain pulsed on either side of the bridge of his nose, his mouth felt dry, like it had been stuffed with cotton, and all over Hikaru felt leaden, like he had been asleep for days.

"How-long-" Hikaru managed before having to swallow several times.

"About 15 minutes," Mitani supplied, helping Hikaru sit up.

Someone pressed a glass of water into his hand, and Hikaru took a sip of it with his eyes closed, feeling miserable and trying to prepare himself to stay that way for a long time.

Hikaru opened his eyes, and the pain vanished. He blinked a few times, bewildered, but it was really gone…

Sai was looking at him, concerned. "Hikaru?" he said, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said, and looked around. They were in a large, clearly Chinese-inspired room, with a long, western table filing most of the space.

He was sitting on a bench inlayed into a wall, with Mitani, Sai and Waya around him. Touya was further away, sitting at the table, looking concerned but purposefully restrained.

"What happened?" Hikaru asked.

"I don't know," Sai said, voice pitched and brows knit it worry. "One moment you were speaking to us and the next you were-you were breathing a lot, and then you started to collapse."

"You were having a panic attack." Touya told him, speaking for the first time. "You started to fall, and Sai and I caught you. You passed out after that, and we brought you here."

"It's a Chinese restaurant that closed for the afternoon," Waya supplied before Shindou could ask.

"What I don't understand," Mitani began, looking at everyone in turn, "is why you passed out at all. That doesn't usually happen in a panic attack." He tried to look at Touya, but the sho-dan looked away almost as soon as their eyes met.

Silence fell in the room. Waya, who had seen the brief but odd exchange between Mitani and Touya, but not fully understood it, cleared his throat.

"We should probably go," he said. "We're still really close to the site of the attack, and this place is reopening soon, so the sooner we get out of here, the better."

"I agree," Shindou said. He stood, which immediately caused Sai to worry.

"Hikaru, are you sure you're alright? Maybe you should sit for a little more, just until we're sure you're-"

"I'm _fine_," Shindou insisted, a small amount of familiar bite to his words. It was a tone he had often used with Sai in the past to stop the spirit from overreacting.

Immediately, Sai's sleeve-covered hands flew to his mouth, shushing himself, a silent apology for his needless worry. Shindou smiled, and cast a glance at the others.

"I can't imagine anything else we could possibly do today," Shindou said, "so it's probably best if we all go home. Sai, will you be alright to come with me if we split up?"

"Oh! Yes, I should be. But I was hoping I could go home with someone else."

"Oh." Hikaru looked slightly wounded, before something seemed to click in his brain and the look on his face changed to suspicion. "Sai," Hikaru began, voice taking on an edge of warning, "it's not Touya, right? Because I know how much you want to play his dad, but you just can't-the last thing we need is for people to think that he's Sai-or you-or the internet player Sai, who is you-you know what I mean. You can't go home with Touya."

"Oh, no, Hikaru. Not Touya. I was thinking I'd go home with Waya, if he'll have me."

Hikaru's suspicious look fell from his face, and his mouth dropped open in surprise. Part of him felt insulted that Sai would rather go with Waya than him, especially after they had been separated for as long as they had, but he swallowed the feeling, and smiled. "O-kay…"

It was a few seconds before everyone realized that Hikaru and Waya had spoken at the same time.

"I mean," Waya began "yeah, Sai can come home with me. I just-I really thing we should get going." Unconsciously, his eyes flicked from Touya, who was still sitting at the table in a conscious effort to be just outside the group. Something was wrong, there. Something with the way Touya was acting. He had never been much of a social person, but usually when Shindou was around he wasn't so reserved. He would be more open-not just to Shindou, but to the entire group. But now…he wasn't sure of it, but Touya seemed to have retreated further than he would have were Shindou not here. This was all thought of in the background of his mind. In the forefront, he was preoccupied by the persistent need to _move_, to get somewhere he considered safe-to get home. For all of them to get home.

Mitani nodded. He had no feeling of immediate doom-only the same feeling of impending disaster he had held in his chest since he'd first known of the alien invasion, belonging to some unclear event in the future-so he knew that Waya's feeling of paranoia was simply a feeling. But he didn't see any reason to argue it; Waya would feel attacked, and they should be getting home anyway. "So let's get going then,"

At that, the five of them began filing out to the party room, Mitani last, after Touya. He followed behind the long-haired boy, absent-mindedly moving to push his chair in, but his hand stopped just above the dark wood, and his violet eyes snapped up, focusing on Touya. His back was to him, so he was staring only at the back of his head, but his gaze was intense as if her were looking him in the eyes. His thoughts were simultaneously on him and the wooden chair his hand was hovering over.

He hadn't even _touched_ it. Hadn't even touched it, ye he had never felt such intense emotion radiating from an object before. He felt fear. An almost repressed fear of-of _something,_ but even the emoter didn't want to admit what of, so he couldn't tell what-and self-loathing so powerful his lip almost curled at the emotion and he was only feeling it second-hand. And-relief. An Immense relief, almost coming across as happiness, but it wasn't, not quite, because underneath everything, as a foundation to everything the emoter was experiencing now was sadness. And all of it-all of it; the fear, self-loathing, relief, and sadness was summed up in one incredible, prominent though, almost as a command to and from the emoter.

Mitani's eyebrows flicked together in confusion, and his hand dropped back to his side awkwardly, chair left untouched. If he had felt that much not even touching it, he could only imagine what he would feel if he did. Only a second or so had elapsed, and Mitani quickly joined the others.

Stepping outside the restaurant, Mitani locked the door with the key the owners had left with them, stashing it on the top ledge of the restaurant's main door, and sent a shaky smile to everyone. As they walked, his eyes fell to rest on Touya, who walked just slightly ahead of him, but only slightly, as though wanting to fall to the back of the group. How could he possibly think—?

"So," Shindou began, interrupting Mitani's train of thought. He was speaking mainly to Sai, but his volume made it so that he was including the entire group, and his tone was genuinely light. That was the brilliant thing about Shindou, Mitani thought, disappointments like Sai going home with Waya genuinely just rolled off his back. "How do you know that the sixth person we're looking for isn't just some stranger on the street? I mean, we can't exactly count that out, right?"

"Hmm," Sai's eyebrows came together in concern, hand resting, covered by his osode, on his chin as he considered it.

Behind them, Mitani let out a bark of laughter, unable to contain himself. The others simply turned to look at him, confused.

Still sniggering, Mitani explained, "You honestly think the sixth person wouldn't take notice of Sai? He's not exactly wearing anything modern, is he?"

"But," Waya said, "people wear traditional clothing, still."

"From his era?" At Waya and Shindou's blank looks, he expanded, "people wear traditional clothing still, yeah, but from the Edo era." The two boys still looked confused, and Mitani sighed, going for a much simpler explanation. "He's wearing a gigantic, funny hat."

Sai looked insulted. "Would you rather I wore a chicken suit? Though I never understood why one would make a suit out of nothing but chickens—"

As conversation degraded into explaining to Sai that a chicken suit wasn't _actually_ made from chickens, and then to wondering weather or not, if he concentrated, could Sai change what he was wearing (the answer was no-though Waya was swearing up and down that the color had changed, just a little bit) they came to the point where they would have to divide up into groups.

Waya turned left, heading to his apartment with his spectral guest in tow- "I always imagined I'd eventually take someone home with me," he joked.

Touya went to the right, waving as he muttered something about swinging by his father's Go salon, before he went home-and brushing it off when Shindou mentioned that it would be easier it he continued with himself and Mitani.

Mitani and Shindou continued straight, heading to the nearest metro station.

A block away from where they had separated, Shindou extended his arms to the sky stretching. He groaned, and dropped his arms to his sides. "This is so weird," he said. He didn't turn his head, staring straight ahead, but Mitani knew he was speaking to him.

"Yeah," he said, "he really is."

Shindou looked at him, confused and inquisitive, "Who is?"

"Oh, um," Mitani stumbled for a moment, realizing he had said 'he'. "Touya. You didn't notice it?"

Shindou shrugged, looking ahead of them again. He slowed his pace just slightly so that his and Mitani's steps matched up perfectly. "Touya's always weird. _I_ was talking about Sai. I mean-he _left_, so I guess when I finally saw him I expected he'd want to spend as much time as he was able with _me_, you know? But I guess he got sick of me, huh?" Hikaru chuckled dryly to himself.

"Has anybody ever told you," Mitani said, tone completely serious, "you act a little bit like you're bi-polar?"

"What?" Shindou said, looking at Mitani, face contorted in the same was as someone who had just been insulted.

"I just mean that you really shouldn't take it personally. He _was_ sent here on this crazy alien mission thing, right? So maybe he has crazy alien mission related things to do that aren't with you?"

"I guess," Hikaru mumbled.

"Good." Mitani stopped walking, a few feet from the entrance to the metro, "because I don't think we should be wondering about him." His eyes locked with Shindou's, conveying the seriousness of what he was about to say without words.

* * *

"And when Hikaru first played against you, I _knew_ there was some true potential in you-you're a good player, Waya, and I bet you've only improved since the last time I saw one of your games!"

Waya wasn't speaking. Sai was talking far too quickly for him to get a word in edgewise, and besides, he was far to embarrassed from listening to Sai praise him. It wasn't just his ability, either, but his character. Sai was praising him for something that no one ever had before-not what he had earned, or what he had accomplished, but who he actually _was_; the way he had befriended Shindou, the way he acted around others. As a result, most of the walk to his apartment had him starting at his feet, face flushed in embarrassment.

"Okay!" he said quickly but quietly as a woman cast him a nasty glare. She probably thought he was drunk, not stopping unwarranted praise from an invisible (to her, at least) specter. "Can you stop? Everything you're saying is nice, but please. I _know_ you have something else to talk about."

Sai's eyes drifted downward, and a slight, melancholy smile came to his face. "I could talk about a great many other things." He recited a famous proverb. "I knew the man who wrote that. I have known a great many men-a great many great men, including some you would not believe if I said. You should ask Hikaru about it sometime; I don't expect we'll have much time to discuss it. But there is one thing I should like to talk to you about."

Waya was unlocking the door to his apartment, ushering Sai in before himself and flicking on the lights. He was surprised at the sudden serious turn Sai had taken. One minute he was bubbly and effervescent, and now this. If he had always been like this, he had no idea how Shindou had managed it. "Okay," he said. A bottle of water went into a kettle and the kettle went onto a small, electric stovetop without much thought. Tea appeared from a small but convenient cupboard. "Go ahead. I guess that's the real reason you wanted to come home with me?"

Sai nodded, and began to speak. His words were clear and precise, but held a melodic quality that made you want to keep listening. He left nothing out, and did not speak out of order or repeat himself. His eyes stayed firmly locked with Waya's the entire time, but did not feel invasive. It was like Sai spoke not only with his words and voice, but with his eyes as well. And when he finished, Waya had not noticed that he had ended up pouring two cups of tea instead of the necessary one, or that they had gone cold. Everything Sai had told him had been important in some way or another and the spirit had given him a lot to think about-but instead of feeling overwhelmed, he felt near-cathartic.

"That's…a lot." He said simply after a moment had passed. "Wow."

His doorbell rang, and he jumped, surprised and unprepared for the suddenly foreign sound. He stood, going to the door and opening it in a few short steps.

Isumi stood in the hall, smiling at Waya. "Hey," he said, "thought I'd stop by."

Waya, surprised, did not let him in for a moment. For a second, he thought in panic of Sai, and then dismissed it, ushering Isumi into his small apartment. He turned, and stared, wide-eyed at what had once been where Sai sat. He was gone. He had _vanished_.

"Did you have guests?" Isumi was asking, pointing to the still-full cups on the tabletop.

"Yeah," Waya said, coming over and deftly dumping the contents of both cups down the drain. "I did."

Shindou was going to _kill_ him.

* * *

"Hello,"

Touya jumped, turning abruptly to face the spirit that had materialized in his room. "I though you went with Waya," Touya said.

"So did I," Sai admitted, "but then I thought I needed to talk to you, and here I am."

"About what?" Touya asked. He was leaning as far away from Sai as the wall would allow, looking almost fearful, but not of Sai.

Sai's smile was gentle, but Touya still winced and looked away. "I think you know."

* * *

The light of the moon was bright enough so that Hikaru's room was bathed in it, tinged blue by the light of the night.

He sat on his bed, looking out the window, pensive. He knew that in telling what he had, Mitani had meant for him to think on that, but he couldn't. How could he believe that about Touya? So instead, he was thinking of Sai. Preoccupied with Sai. Unable to relax, because of Sai.

Sai had returned. For a limited time-for such a short, limited time-but still returned. And he wanted to stay with _Waya?_ It was unbelievable to him, even with the idea that he had "crazy, alien mission things" to take car of, to quote Mitani. Screw those things, he wanted him _here_. With him.

His eye suddenly caught movement from the street, and he looked down. Suddenly, he threw himself up against the window with a lout bang-it was Akari! Akari was passing by his house! She must not have heard the bang, but she looked towards the house, and his heart stopped for one unbelievable second until the outside porch light came on, and his mother emerged, carrying a casserole dish with her.

He watched as the two of them talked over the gate, and his mother handed Akari the dish, which was tinged green in the moonlight.

Suddenly, his mother turned, going back towards the house. Akari lifted her hand to stop her, but it was too late, and she let her hand return to her side to cradle the dish. Then, she looked up, straight into his window, and Hikaru threw himself back onto his bed, which creaked and bounced at the sudden force and weight of him and was out of sight. His heart was thudding in his chest, pounding against his ribcage. He had only one thought: did she see me? He was thankful that the lights in his room were off, but felt suddenly like a Peeping Tom, ducking out of sight as he had.

"Hikaru!" his mother was calling up the stairs, "can you come down, please?"

Hikaru swung his legs over the edge of his bed and did as his mother asked. "Yeah, mom?" he asked as he reached the bottom of the steps.

"Akari-chan's outside," she told him.

"Oh yeah?" his voice was a forced casual, but his mother didn't seem to notice.

"Would you walk her home? It's getting late out."

For a moment, Hikaru froze in surprise. Then, he found himself agreeing blindly, slipping on a pair of shoes and heading outside into the warm summer night. Akari stood in the same place, but looking down, hands clutching the casserole dish to her stomach. Hikaru opened the gate, which creaked, causing Akari to jump.

"Hey," Hikaru said, offering a smile.

Akari returned his smile with a weak on of her own, and the two of them set off down the road towards her house.

The silence that fell between them was thick and tense. Hikaru, who hadn't expected to see Akari again, and especially not so soon, did not know what to say, and Akari, who hadn't _wanted_ to see Hikaru again, ever, had nothing _to_ say. They had walked next to one another like this for some time before Hikaru finally spoke.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Whatever she had been expecting, it had not been an apology. "For what?" she asked.

"For…" he hesitated, unsure of himself. "everything." He settled on at last.

"What do you mean?"

Hikaru sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. "I mean, I'm sorry how I treated you in the past-or in middle school, I guess. I…I'm sorry how I left you behind? I don't think I even realized I was doing it. I had one goal in mind. I couldn't focus on anything else. By the time I realized consciously that anything had changed between us…three years had gone by and you were yelling at me outside a hospital. But please don't be angry-we really, honestly need you. The-the _aliens_ will be here in like a week, and the six of us are the only ones who can stop them. Please. Akari. I am so sorry."

They had reached the gate to her house by now, and Hikaru was looking steadfastdly at Akari, silently begging for forgiveness.

Akari was looking, not at him, but in the direction opposite him. She was quiet for a long time. She had waited so long for him to say something like that. Too long, in fact. When she finally looked at him, tears had collected, unshed in the corners of her eyes . When she spoke, her voice was tight, but controlled.

"Apology not accepted."

Without another word, she turned and entered her house, leaving Hikaru behind for the second time that day.

* * *

Okay! Hey guys! I updated! In less than a year this time, too! This chapter leaves us with a few questions.

What did Sai say to Waya? To Touya? What did Mitani say to Hiakru? Why is everyone having discussions behind each others backs? Why can't Akari accept Hikaru's apology? Does Mrs. Shindou know more than she lets on? Is there a plot behind her asking Hikaru to walk Akari home? All this and more, in the next installment of...

UNLOCKING DESTINY

:P

Peace!


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